‘Allow MPs access to MA63 report’ call

KUCHING: A Sarawak Senator proposed for federal lawmakers to receive a preliminary report on the Cabinet Special Committee on the implementation of Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) since the full document was classified.

Senator Robert Lau said the people of Sarawak and Sabah would like to know what are the issues and recommendations made at the federal level.

“After all, the MA63 affects the rights of Sarawak and Sabah and their people,” he said when commenting on Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Sabah and Sarawak Affairs) Datuk Hanifah Hajar Taib’s statement that the contents of the special committee report were technical and classified under the Official Secrets Act 1972.

Lau, who is also Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) assistant treasurer, said MA63 and the Inter-governmental Committee Report 1962 were public documents and formed the basis for Sarawak and Sabah to join in the formation of Malaysia 67 years ago.

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“It is well known that there are many breaches and erosions of the terms, rights, and undertakings of these two documents over the last six decades,” he said in a statement.

He added the special committee was set up to look into the breaches and erosions with the aim of righting the wrongs done, adding that it is only right that the findings and recommendations of the special committee be made public.

“If there are matters that concern security or a threat to the stability of the nation and well-being of her people then it is understandable why it should be kept as secret.

“With the exceptions of these items the report should be made public,” he said.

Lau said he will push for full report to be made public at the Senate’s meeting later.

Hanifah told Parliament two days ago that the federal government has maintained its stand not to make public the classified final report from the Cabinet special committee tasked with reviewing the implementation of MA63.

In July, Hanifah cited similar reasons on the government’s stand.

Back then, the Perikatan Nasional government was asked about the status of 21 matters tabled in the report including four issues that are still being discussed namely oil royalty and petroleum cash payments; oil minerals and oil fields; Territorial Sea Act 2012 (Act 750); and state rights over the continental shelf.

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Last December, former deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohamed Hanipa Maidin told the Dewan Negara that 17 out of 21 matters tabled by the Sarawak and Sabah governments at the Cabinet’s special committee meeting to review the implementation of MA63 had been jointly approved.

The matters included claims to export duties for timber and forest products in Sabah, the state’s authority over health issues in Sarawak and Sabah, and the regulation of gas and electricity distribution in the two Borneo states.

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